Packet Engines (PEs) are devices or Integrated Circuits (ICs or Chips) that perform packet processing, such as packet classification, policing, filtering and switching. In any given technology, there is always a practical limit in how fast a monolithic PE can be built. In order to build a higher capacity system, a number of PEs can be joined together. The traditional way of doing this is to use Modular Systems that join a number of individual PEs using a central packet switch, often implemented in the form of a packet backplane with central switch fabric, and the PEs sitting on line-cards interfacing to the backplane switch. Although Modular Systems allow the construction of very large switching systems, they can no longer be considered a “monolithic non-blocking” switch, because in these large systems, the introduction of the central fabric always introduces QoS or performance limitations with certain traffic patterns. In addition, the ability to perform shared operations across a Modular System, such as policing and protection switching on different interfaces sitting on different PEs, is lost.
This invention uses a unique design that allows two or more PEs to be joined together, while keeping the monolithic non-blocking feature-set. The Bandwidth (BW) in terms of BPS (Bit Per Second), the processing power in terms of PPS (Packets Per Second) and the number of interfaces are increased by a factor of “N”, where “N” is the number of PEs joined together. Given the assumption that for a given technology one can only build PEs with capacity X, using this technique, (Multi-chip) PEs with capacity of N*X can be built.